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by Eruphadriel



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Original Character Death(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-02
Updated: 2015-09-02
Packaged: 2018-04-18 14:55:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4710071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eruphadriel/pseuds/Eruphadriel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Inquisitor's mark was too much for her body to take, and she left Cullen behind, lost.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home

He had been on the front lines, nowhere near her. Cullen had not seen the end. He had only seen the great green flash, heard two cries bouncing off the craggy bluffs. Corypheus died loudly. She died with a single, agonized screech.  
Varric described it modestly, with only a few broken words, and a sighed, "I... I’m sorry." A bandage over a stab wound. The dwarf refused to tell Cullen any more about the Inquisitor's end. Only that her mark had spread too far, the magic wrought too deep in her bones.

He didn't need someone to describe it to him, though. He saw it every night. Every time he shut his eyes and dared let his subconscious take control, Cullen would remember the way the green spread up her elbow and over her shoulder. He would see the tendrils that breached the expanse of her chest, dyed her freckles, snaked down the contours of her back. The fingers he had kissed turning black up to her palm. That was when his imagination took hold.

That was when Cullen saw her die. Over and over. In every way possible. The mark breaking the seams of her skin, bursting her heart, squeezing her lungs empty. Sometimes he was there, fighting to save her. Sometimes he died with her. Sometimes Corypheus held him back. The only part that remained consistent was the Inquisitor's shrill shriek before she died. It cut through his nightmares and jolted him awake.

To awaken in an empty bed... That was worse than dreaming her death over and over.

Tonight, Cullen laid awake, staring at the space beside him. When they first arrived at Skyhold, he had revelled in the luxurious size of his sleeping quarters. Now, it was too much. Cullen found himself setting pillows beside him, dreaming of a time when it was more than just stuffed linens at his back. When she would languidly stretch in morning's light, groaning at the flex and release of sleepy muscles and drape an arm over his chest, nuzzling against his neck and murmuring  _"Good morning"_  before drifting back to sleep. When Skyhold felt like home.

These were dangerous thoughts. They made Cullen's stomach twist and his tired eyes sting with tears. He buried his face in his pillow and squeezed his eyes shut, brow scrunching and lip trembling. When he had first referred to Skyhold as their home, the Inquisitor had asked him why.

_"Because you're here. And I suppose wherever you go will be home to me."_

And now he had nowhere to go.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Feedback is appreciated and encouraged!


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